The present disclosure generally relates to apparatuses for characterizing rheological properties of materials and methods for using same. More specifically, the present disclosure is directed to mixer sensors for rheological characterization of fluids having particles at various processing conditions.
Different types of rheological testing equipment have been widely available for use in laboratories, manufacturing plants, etc. for testing rheological characteristics of materials. Although apparatuses for testing rheological properties of materials are readily available in the art, they cannot always be used with every fluid requiring rheological characterization. For example, known apparatuses may not be suitable for use in characterizing fluids exposed to high temperature environments, such as aseptic processing systems. Additionally, known apparatuses may not be suitable for use with fluids having particulates. Indeed, most commercially available apparatuses require any particulates in a fluid to be strained, or otherwise removed, prior to rheological characterization. In this manner, the only portion of the sample left for characterization is the fluid portion, which may give a less accurate rheological measurement of the sample that may not reflect the actual processing conditions of the sample within the processing pipeline system.